Keith has been worried that our main mast will fit; we’ve found out that we actually have a few inches to spare. It’s still not much…
Here we show Herb enjoying his craft, perhaps too much. A happy splicer is a happy rigger!
We have 48′ of brass deck railing to shape. Bill believes he can accomplish this using the table saw and has been busy trying out a number of creative jigs and fixtures.
Lastly, we have Keith making sure that the mast collar will fit over the mast truss chainplate.
The year has gone quickly and it is hard to believe we’ve been at this for 15 months! I think most of us (all volunteers) can’t believe how much progress has been made! Last year at this time we were working on the boom and waiting for the hull to show up. Now we can really see how majestic and beautiful our RELIANCE will be!
Saturday was our last work session of the year. Thursday before, we drilled holes in the fiberglass base, put some wing nuts the bolts for extra holding power, filled the holes with epoxy glue and set everything in place to cure. On Saturday, Keith Bradley made some final adjustments and our stub mast sits as the mast should!
We also finished fairing the main chain plates and so have all chain plates in place; even with a token shackle and turnbuckle attached! Other volunteers finished filing and buffing all the beautiful fittings Mike Mirman has made for us over the year -so they have a miniature, true-to-scale jewelry finish.
So, as we take our shore leave for Christmas and New Years holidays, we’ll leave you with pictures of the mast step and Reliance as she waits for 2014 work to begin. Best wishes to everyone for happy holidays and a great RELIANCE New Year.
Mast Step
Mast Step Underside
Mast Step In Place
Mast Partner Are Ready To Go
View From The Hole
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The Year End 2013
Team members Keith Bradley and Joe Uzzo have been busy. Here we show 6 pictures of their progress below.
Photo #1 shows one of the seven deck structures coming together – Joe’s handiwork Photos
#2-6 show Keith’s handiwork Photo
#2 & 3 show the mast step which will be bolted into an internal fiberglass mast step. It is adjustable so we can get the mast aligned fore and aft and side to side to the waterline. RELIANCE had about 2 degree mast rake aft Photos
#4 & 5 show the main chain plates and backstay chain plates. The hull has been cut to receive these plates and they will be screwed and glued in place and then we’ll back-fill with fiberglass material. They cant inward and are differing angles fore and aft.
Photo #6 shows the bobstay chain plate already installed.
Thank you Keith and Joe for all of your hard work!
The RELIANCE Project 
